Stat book at the Brickyard

With Carl Edwards on the pole for Sunday's Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard -- his second in a row -- the statistical gurus (mainly just me, but that's OK) have decided to go to work. Here are some highlights to get a sense of Edwards' chances for another victory in 2015, Kyle Busch's charge up the points chart, and other miscellaneous stuff from Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
--This is the 22nd edition of NASCAR's trip to the place where the Indy 500 still carries the day. In his final start, Indiana native son (at least from age 15 on) Jeff Gordon is the defending champ and looking for his sixth Brickyard win.
None of Gordon's five previous Indy wins have been from the pole, and he started 27th for his 2001 Indy triumph. That's the furthest through the field a race winner has come from, and he'll start 19th on Sunday.
--Only three Brickyard winners have won from the pole: Kevin Harvick (2003), Jimmie Johnson (2008) and Ryan Newman (2013).
--Johnson won the Brickyard 400 in three of his championship seasons -- 2006, 2008 and 2009. From 1998 through 2001, the Brickyard 400 winner went on to win the Winston Cup title: Jeff Gordon (1998, 2001), Dale Jarrett (1999) and Bobby Labonte (2000).
--For all of his other successes at Indianapolis, Roger Penske has never won a Brickyard 400 as an owner. Joey Logano starts from second Sunday, but Brad Keselowski goes off 31st.
--Should Logano win, he'll join Jimmie Johnson (2006) and Jamie McMurray (2010) as the only Sprint Cup drivers to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season.
--Problem for Logano, though...a Chevrolet has won the last 12 Brickyard 400s. Bill Elliott was the last non-Chevy driver in Victory Lane at Indy in 2002. The last Ford to win was Dale Jarrett in 1999.
--If you're thinking the new higher-drag rules package will mess with passing for the lead, it could produce a few more than normal. The record for fewest lead changes is nine, and it's happened three times -- 2000, 2004 and 2009. There were 26 lead changes in the 2008 Brickyard 400, but that one featured the tire disaster from Goodyear, so take it for what it's worth.
Since 2008, the caution count has been three, six, five, five, three and four, so that can be considered progress. We'll see if it produces a formula for winning racing that keeps eyes watching.
Tom Zulewski has covered everything in motor sports from World of Outlaws to NASCAR and the American LeMans Series in an 18-year journalism career. Follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports.